The railways have taken up a slew of projects to improve infrastructure in New Jalpaiguri and Malda, the two most prominent stations of north Bengal, and to boost train connectivity in the region.
The focus has come as a shot in the arm of the Bengal BJP which began taking credit for the projects.
The most visible of the projects are improvement of facilities at New Jalpaiguri and Malda stations by the Katihar division of the Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) and the Malda division of Eastern Railway (ER), respectively.
According to sources in the NFR, the NJP station is getting four escalators, two lifts, an air-conditioned dormitory and a new foot over bridge, and a 30 KW solar plant to meet the station’s power requirements.
Added to it, the NFR has developed infrastructure at some other stations, which include a foot over-bridge at Raiganj station and elevated platforms at stations like Gangarampur, Malda Court, Radhikapur and Naxalbari.
The railways have also finished the task of rebuilding the Tindharia and Gayabari stations of the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway (DHR), which had been damaged during the 2017 statehood agitation in the hills.
“Also, the Malda-NJP stretch and the Katihar-NJP stretch of the tracks have been completely electrified. From Calcutta, any train moving towards NJP will run with electric traction. Once normal services resume, people will surely be benefited by these facilities,” said a senior official of the NFR.
The railways are also in the process of giving a thorough makeover to the Malda Town station and plan to finish installation of newer facilities in three months.
Two escalators have already been installed and soon, two elevators will be set up to connect two platforms with foot over bridges.
“The lifts would be installed in the next three months. Also, we are opening a ten-bed Intensive Care Unit at the railway hospital in Malda with all facilities and manpower. It would help the railway employees and people in general,” said Jatendra Kumar, the divisional railway manager of Malda division.
In Malda district, it is a common practice among a section of residents to avail themselves of healthcare facilities at the railway hospital that is near the Malda Town station.
These projects at NJP and Malda have given the BJP a chance to play the development card and highlight the achievements of the Narendra Modi government.
“These are major developments in the railway sector. Earlier, the focus was more on southern parts of the state. But our government’s focus is to improve connectivity in north Bengal and Northeast. We are apprising people of the improvements and the new facilities,” said Pravin Agarwal, president of Siliguri (organisational) district of BJP.
Khagen Murmu, the BJP MP of Malda North, said the projects reflected the Modi government’s commitment to the region, which supported the BJP in the last parliament polls.
“These changes in railway services are for the people as our government believes in ensuring development,” he said.
Trinamul leaders said such strategies of the BJP would not work.
“No new train has been launched from Malda and from north Bengal as a whole in the past few years. Instead, the Centre is offering some of the popular routes to private players. The basic services on board are in a shambles. Some minor works can never be exaggerated as major developments,” said Mausam Benazir Noor, a Rajya Sabha member and the district Trinamul chief of Malda.
